I've read a LOT on the best type of diets - I have my mom (diagnosed in the fall of 2018, bone-only mets) on a plant-based diet, no dairy, no gluten, and low carb. We're having difficulty actually finding recipes and new things to make, so wanted to know if any of you could point me towards some resources.
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Metastatic breast cancer patients - what's your diet? Do you have any examples of actual recipes to make?
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Jac-genova
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Hi,
A couple of great resources for vegan, plant-based recipes can be found on Kris Carr's website and books, along with Dr Michael Greger's website and "How not to die" books. Here are the links:
Sophie
in reply to
How Not to Die is a brilliant book. Highly recommend it.
in reply to
I agree with you, Cheryl. What's not to love about a book with such an intriguing title?!
Sophie
in reply to
Absolutely x
Here_now in reply to
Hiya Sophie, I just couldn't buy that one because if the title (still coming to terms with things here, obviously!) But if you say it's good, I might 😊
Thanks for the links.
Faye xx
in reply to Here_now
Hi Faye,
I completely understand! The title may sound a bit off putting, but when you read the book you will find that Dr Greger actually has a really good sense of humour! So it's not a morbid book, but actually quite lighthearted and funny in places. I didn't buy the book. I just borrowed it from the library and made copious notes. A lot of his recipes really appealed to me, so I wrote down the ones I liked the look of. If you don't want to read the book, you can learn more about Dr Greger on his website:
Take care,
Sophie
Here_now in reply to
I guess he would have to have a sense of humour calling his book that! Ok, so now I find it quite funny 
I am always on the lookout for new recipes, so thanks! I am still meaning to make those oat pancakes you posted the recipe on here for back months ago!
You take care too, I'll write soon!
Faye xx
in reply to Here_now
Hi Faye,
Let me know if you read the book. I think you will get a kick out of it! Are you referring to the oat and banana pancakes? I am actually thinking about making some tomorrow, as I have a glut of bananas that need using up. I like to try new recipes too. My husband has been telling me off lately as I have been cooking just about every day, and we are running out of room in our fridge and both freezers for the food! I've been pulling homemade ready meals out of the freezers to use in an attempt to empty them and was expecting to have caught up by now, but there is probably another week's worth of food before I need to cook again. But I have not been able to stop cooking! I'm not sure why!
Have a good weekend,
Sophie x
Jac-genova in reply to
Thank you so much Sophie!! I really appreciate it!
in reply to Jac-genova
You're welcome! I really like Kris Carr and Dr Michael Greger. I started juicing after reading Kris' books and looking at her website. Kris has a great vegan chocolate brownie recipe I am thinking of making tomorrow and Dr Greger has some delicious recipes in his book that make healthy eating a pleasure, rather than a chore.
Sophie
May I ask why your mom is not on here instead of you? As someone’s mom with MBC, I find that kind of off putting. I am still capable and would fund it insulting if my daughter was joining MBC patient support groups on my behalf.
SeattleMom in reply to
I have to respond to your "off putting" response to Jac-genova! God bless this caring, loving daughter for supporting her mom with her health challenge. Who are you to "guess" the reasons why her mother might be unable to cope with her situation or perhaps be as computer savvy as her dear daughter? Shame on you!
Linda
in reply to SeattleMom
I didn’t guess. I asked. And I’m sorry, but she has put her mother on a diet, questionable In itself, and has eliminated animal products, carbohydrates, and gluten. Even the diet is OVERLY controlling. Unless her mother is an invalid, I think she would do better with more autonomy, and I think the daughter would do better in a support group for family members. I’m sorry if that offends you, but as an MBC patient I have felt offended because of these things, and I am surely as free to express that as you are to try to shame me or call me names. Yes?
SeattleMom in reply to
Anyone is free to be opinionated rather than kind and supportive. However, you didn't even wait for a response from Jac. Instead, you steamrolled her. An opinion can be expressed in a manner less hostile than this young woman deserved. It doesn't exactly fit the vibe of this group, IN MY OPINION.
in reply to SeattleMom
I might suggest that you are putting a lot more hostility into it than was there originally. Enough hostility for me to leave. Hope you are happy.
I think whoever she was directing her response to should have responded. Not polite on your part. I Know this is from a year ago. I remember why I stopped coming to this board although most are much nicer. I am sure Jac does not need you to respond for her either.
Hi Jac-genova -
Thank you for continuing to look out for your mom...
I'm vegan, and cook constantly, but to share actual recipes would take up too much space!
My "go-to" foods include lots of chickpea and cauliflower recipes.
I highly recommend "The Stew", from Alison Roman (kind of in a time out from the NYT these days, but great recipe, wonderfully seasoned..). Chickpeas, coconut milk, kale, turmeric, garlic, etc. Incredibly delicious, reheats beautifully. 14,000 5-star reviews...
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes...
I've struggled to an absurd degree to successfully make falafel, which is arguably my favorite food (although apparently I don't know how to spell it!). it's been a saga. But my best success is a chickpea/quinoa recipe that is baked...I can't find my recipe online (I have an old printout) but google yields many...
I also often make cauliflower "steaks" or "florets" with any type of seasoning. My fave is like cumin/paprika/S&P/garlic, then put scallions on top and a squeeze of lime. This recipe is similar:
inspiredtaste.net/42872/chi...
Overall, I just make a good batch of chickpeas (from dried...for the falafel, you have to start with just soaked, not cooked) and quinoa every few days. Use them in recipes or just to make a basic salad into a hearty meal.
Oh, another go-to is stirfry to get the good (fresh) red peppers in...I either do this with a dark, asian stirfy sauce, or make make it into a coconut curry with the thai red curry from a jar. So I slice/dice the peppers, onions, etc, and, again, use them to cook and also for salads.
Plus garlic in everything. Lots of it!
And don't forget the Oatley ice cream with crumbled Uncle Eddy's peanut butter chocolate chip cookies on top! (Whole foods).
And bfast every day (after a 16+ hour fast) is avo toast on Dave's Killer bread. Limit white bread, and this stuff is packed with nutrients...(Whole foods, too).
Jac-genova, again, I appreciate you looking out for your mom. My daughter is similar and it was actually she who convinced me to go vegan, but for ethical reasons -- the health benefits are a happy side-effect.
I visited your website when you posted it before...Very nice site and I read about your mom there, too. You seem like an excellent, proactive businesswoman. Very admirable...
Good luck with it all, especially to your mom...
Best,
Lynn
Jac-genova in reply to
Thank you again so much Lynn, for this great information and your kind words. I'm praying for you! My mom appreciates your advice very much
Canal House Lentils. Google the recipe. Delicious and fits her diet bill.
Hi Jac-genova, I have gone a bit the other way. I have let myself off the hook after spending much of my life on diets of various kinds, fighting with my body to try to meet stereotypical beauty and fitness standards. I now let myself eat and enjoy what I want. It feels like freedom. But I have slowly brought in different things to try to offset my weight gain. The first thing was I picked up 10 a day the easy way cookbook. Many of the recipes aren't actually that great but it helped me find ways to increase my veg and fruit consumption. I especially use the banana peanut butter pancake recipe and the 10 minute ravioli soup. I have found that my energy levels and neutrophil numbers are better when I'm doing this well. I can also recommend this lentil soup... Amazing. Just choose the veg stock option. bbcgoodfood.com/user/133070...
I can also recommend this shakshuka recipe but it may depend on if your mom can handle the acid of the tomatoes.
cookieandkate.com/foolproof...
And I love the wholemeal flatbread I make to go with it from this website which has many many more recipes you may want to try.
iheartvegetables.com/whole-...
The second thing I did was download an intuitive eating app called ate. I do not use this constantly but I used it to help ask questions about why I'm eating or craving things at different times. For me, for example, I found I start craving and munching on sugary snacks in my last week of Ibrance as my neutrophils begin to decline. I have also found that I crave burgers or kebabs on my off week if my neutrophils are low (sorry, not a vegetarian which is odd after years of eating no red meat and only periodically chicken). If I start feeling rundown in early week 3, I increase green veg and have a burger or beef. I'm learning as I go how to try to listen to my body.
I'm sorry about your mom's diagnosis. In many ways I think it is probably easier for me living with MBC than it is for my mom who can't fix it and is watching from the sidelines. Oh, I'm also a really big fan of sautéed mushrooms with tarragon over toast. Simple and fast. I don't have a recipe just slosh of olive oil, many chopped mushrooms and I mess with mixed of herbs and Ben and Jerry's has vegan ice cream.
Stac
Thank you so much!
in reply to TeddyChowChow
Stac - Thanks for bringing up the mushrooms! I'm a huge fan, so easy to saute/make delicious and I just mix with pasta or put on top of roasted potatoes. I always have cooked pasta and roasted potatoes (w/ peppers/onions) in the fridge as a base for whatever I want to put on top...Mushrooms/spinach/tomatoes, all sauteed with garlic is soooo tasty/savory!
TeddyChowChow in reply to
Oohhh great idea!
Jerseygirl45 in reply to
I am listening to all this good food you ladies are making.
I too have always worried about what I ate to keep weight down. Now I can eat what I want but chemo is killing my appetite I am hungry but I can’t get anything down. Lost 25lbs drink protein shake. But everything you mention sounds great. When I get an urge for beef and been burritos my husbands runs to get them. So I am very unhealthy. Hope it goes away.
Enjoy all that good food💕
Barbara
in reply to Jerseygirl45
Hi Jerseygirl45! I'm so sorry about the chemo/loss of appetite, but that burrito sounds great and it's wonderful that your husband does that for you! p.s. I wouldn't count that as unhealthy! Sounds like a pretty balanced meal to me!
Take care,
Lynn
Jerseygirl45 in reply to
It tasted as good as it could with chemo taste. I love beef and beans.
Hi there,
I struggled with this myself. My oncologist is guiding me to 80% vegetarian and 20% not. I bought cook books, recipes, tried batch cooking on the weekends, hello fresh, spoke to nutritionists, etc but I eventually came to the conclusion that I needed help. I asked a friend and she posted on a Mommy group and found me a local chef. The meals are all made healthy by a nutritionist who has experience cooking for folks with a variety of conditions/ dietary needs. All I do is heat up for 2 minutes and bam ready to go.
I know this is an unconventional response but I compared the costs of cooking, cleaning, shopping, turning on the oven and taking away the endless “what should I eat — is it healthy? Is there to much salt?” add in the fatigue that I struggle with, it made the most sense for my family. Also my husband loves that he gets to chose his meals and doesn’t need to eat exactly what I eat /when I eat it and so forth.
My best to your mom and thanks for helping her out! Maybe she would stop by and say hello sometime. This really is a nice group. 🙂
P.s We used/use the “Cancer Fighting Kitchen” cookbook for recipes to help with treatment symptoms.
All the best
Tara
Thank you Tara!!
Wow! I think I would eat like that. You are right when you count the time to shop buy what you need and all the spices, time and work it pays to have someone do it for you. You deserve that, bad enough we have to put up with this condition. Plus cooking healthy is not easy.
Good luck to you enjoy.
Barbara
Probably the lone dissenter here -- 99% of animals are edible, all are rich sources of bioavailable nutrients.
A very small fraction of plants are edible. Plants dont want their leaves, stems and seeds eaten, but they can't run away so they produce immune responses in humans when they are ingested, that's their "defense"
I am ultra low carb, 90% carnivore & 10% veggie eater. Oncologist is 100% on board with my choice.
And if you are doing vegan, low carb, no gluten, you will have a hard time not inducing malnutrition, not to mention lack of enjoyment. You may have the best if intentions, but I think you need to lighten up and allow your mom her own autonomy. Feeling like she needs someone to make all these decisions for her I’d not hound for her. If you want to help her, do the laundry.
SeattleMom in reply to
Can't believe your insanely rude comments to this young woman! YOU need to lighten up, NOT HER!! Find a hobby.
Thank you. I wrote and deleted the same post as I didn't want to parry rude with rude.... But totally agree. I would love my children and husband to be so caring and involved. I think it's best on this board to be kind, helpful and supportive. And stay in your lane. If someone is posting on behalf of their mom, that is their prerogative.
PS @SeekersRoad, I am almost vegan, low-ish carb etc. at the advice of a very reputable nutritionist who works with my Onc and am doing great, enjoying life and hardly malnourished--my bloodwork is that of a healthy younger person.
AMEN! XXOO
Amen. amen, and amen Sister/warrior. The moderators should say, or do something to stop these negative kinds of people who post 
. This site is suppose to be supportive, to woman who are, or were diagnosed with breast cancer, and to caregiver's who are acting on behalf of their loved ones . Their are always miserable people who have nothing better to do with their time . My mom always said "If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything at all". I just read this post today, and I usually stand up when someone is trying to bully someone else. OMG as a Christian I do pray for the negative posters, who need to learn to be kinder Amen !. GOD bless you Sister, and true warrior.
Thank you! The bullied daughter PM’d me and was extremely grateful. She was very gracious about the negative post and suggested that the bully was probably suffering in her own way. But you’re right—no one needs someone shaming a family member for helping out. In this case, the mom is working full time and daughter is helping out seeking sources of support and information. God bless you!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻💗💗
You overamplified a situation. If Jac is old enough to care for her mother, I doubt she needs you to do so. I found you rude,not the other woman.
Thank you!!
Unbelievable. Evil exist in the world , but you are the salt, and shining light in this world. Keep praying, and standing up for those who are in need .
What kind of forum board was this a year ago? Now referring to what that woman said as evil. SMH
Really you are responding to a supportive message I sent to someone else a year ago. Evil does exist in the world in many forms. Please find better things to do in your life, and don't message me. I have better things to do than to respond to you, but I will pray for you.
Sad. People have different opinions and all opinions should be respected. And telling me to "find better things to do with my life", is rude and-off putting as I obviously have stage iv breast cancer as well. I am now doing full-time treatment, including radiation, now bc it moved to my spine and the pain is unbearable. Someone tells me NOT to do something, I am going to do it. We can agree to disagree without anyone being rude. God bless!
in reply to
I'll just weigh in a bit...I totally hear what you're saying...and do believe we all need our indulgences, I happen to be a big fan of this, and have always maintained a vice or two...
But, like Jac-Genova, my daughter is the one who encouraged me to really think about what I eat. I'm so grateful to her, as usual she was right and, even more importantly, it just warmed (to the point of melting...) my heart that my "baby girl" cares about me so much !
I've eaten a pretty healthy diet my whole life--mostly from scratch recipes, plenty of fruits and veggies, mostly fresh non processed meat, wwbread, desserts without going overboard. The only restrictive info I've found is that bell peppers, tomatoes and egg plant "feed" inflammation and should be eaten in moderation if at all. Avoiding egg plant is not a problem for me, but I sure do love tomato based pasta sauce! And I've done well with bone mets since 2004, still on only third line treatment without symptoms ever.
I have read conflicting things about tomatoes. I have heard they are GOOD for inflammation. Maybe they are the Soy of nightshades--jury is out.
in reply to Pbsoup
Hi,
I know what you mean about tomatoes. I have heard conflicting things about them too. I love them! I remember my integrative doctor saying that the brighter red the tomatoes the better. They are also meant to be better for you if they are organic and cooked.
Sophie
Thank you! So happy to hear that - which treatments have you done? My mom is currently on letrozole, she has another petscan this month. Her dr wanted her to consider ibrance but we don't want to have her start that if she doesn't need to.
Ibrance was non-existent when I was first diagnosed, in 2004, with bone mets from the get-go. I started treatment with Letrozole, along with Zometa for the bone mets, and it worked well for me for almost five year. Then on Faslodex for over 9 years. (I've known other women who have also gotten more time from Faslodex than from Letrozole.) When Xgeva became FDA approved, we stopped the Zometa, as I was allergic to it, and I started Xgeva. After Faslodex, I was switched to Aromasin/exemestane, right at the time my beloved oncologist retired. I'm still on Aromasin and Xgeva and have passed the 16 1/2 year mark of constant treatment for MBC.
About Ibrance: I was on it for just a few cycles in 2016, along with Faslodex and Xgeva. Full dose. I developed a lung condition called Interstitial Lung Disease which now appears to be permanent. So I had to add another medical specialist and two new (to me) meds to my already long lists of each! Pulmonologist and oncologist both believe the ILD was caused by Ibrance. So if your mother goes on it, let her know to report any lung/breathing issues ASAP!
Clinical trials did show that adding Ibrance to Faslodex did extend progression free survival by several months. But what I haven't found is anything about the range of those numbers, which can be even more informative. In other words, while the average (mean or median) is focused on, the shortest and longest progression free survival in the trials isn't. It would be helpful to know if there were patients whose progression free survival seemed to be lessened by adding Ibrance.
If your mother is in the US, something she might want to do is to see a bc specialist onc at one of the "Comprehensive Cancer Centers" which are listed on the website of the National Cancer Institute. There are oncs there who both see patients with bc and do research and getting an appt for a second opinion is pretty easy at alot of them. I've done that twice, once shortly after diagnosis, when staging was complete, and again shortly after my first onc retired. Both times the treatment plan my local doctors had for me were affirmed and that was reassuring. First time it was hugely reassuring to my grown daughter and husband, who were there with me.
I've had alot of fatigue the last couple of years and was blaming my age and cancer and cancer treatment. Now it appears it may actually be due to a heart condition and treatment for that has given me more energy than I've had in quite awhile!
But.......our cancers are very individual, just as we are individual, and what works for one may not work for another even if we have the same hormonal and her2neu profile! I wish I could share my good response to treatment with all of us here!
May you and your mother find peace within this crazy cancer way of living!
Thank you so so much for this great information, and taking the time to write it, I really appreciate and I'll keep you in my prayers!!
Would like to know what people eat for breakfast. I am ER+. HER-
in reply to Kdiet
Hi,
I'm also ER+ HER2-. I normally eat the same thing for breakfast Monday-Friday: porridge made with 1/4 cup of organic oats, almond milk, 2tbsp of flaxseeds, 1tbsp of milled chia seeds, 1/4 cup of soaked almonds, pistachios or walnuts, 2 Brazil nuts (for selenium), and a serving of fresh or frozen berries (blackberries, cherries, blackcurrants, blueberries or whatever else I have). The last few days I felt that I needed something lighter, so I have made a fresh green juice with organic cucumbers, celery, an apple, black seed oil and chlorella. On the weekend I am more relaxed and normally have cereal or a full English breakfast, but just a healthier version.
Sophie
Jac-genova in reply to
Thank you!
Jac-genova,
A friend has tried, and raves about a plant based program through the University of California Davis. She was following it for weight loss. Perhaps you can look into this.
Sincerely,
Colleen
I have cut out white carbs and refined sugar. Mainly a plant based diet, no dairy, no red meat, occasionally I will eat chicken. I cook from scratch every day and don't have processed or fried foods.
I make home made soups, cauliflower or buckwheat and cashew curry.
I snack on walnuts, fruit, homemade granola bars and I only drink water, the odd coffee with oat milk or an earl grey tea.
I Google lots of recipes to give me inspiration and if the recipe is a hit then it gets written up in my recipe book!
Jac-genova in reply to
Thank you!! Do you have a copy of your recipe book or thee recipes by any chance?
I usually have cold cereal, 2% milk, prunes and two 9.5 oz bottles of Starbuck's Frappiccino for breakfast. I have not changed my diet, except reducing the frequency of eating tomatoes and bell peppers, sadly. I've been living with mbc and in treatment for just over 16 1/2 years!
16 1/2 years that’s sooo encouraging It’s been 8 years for me hopping for 20 I don’t eat healthy I’m not a big fruit and vegetable person and too fatique for a lot of cooking thinking of starting a prepared food delivery tried it once and it was great but they delivered at like 8:30 at night weekly just too late to be unpacking all that food I’m exhausted by that time🤷♀️
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